With just a week to go before their Euro Championship campaign begins, England Under-21s left it late to secure a 1-0 victory over Belarus in Barnsley.
Late had been the word of the night too, with the kick-off delayed 35 minutes due to the visitors being stuck in motorway traffic on their way to Oakwell.
The game never really sprang into life, and for most of the second half it looked as though Belarus were about to hold on for what would have been a memorable result given the circumstances.
But a close-range strike from defender Ben Gibson with just seven minutes remaining gave Gareth Southgate his 15th victory out of 17 games in charge and plenty to think about as his team prepare to head out to Czech Republic on Sunday.
England started sharply and with intent – Saido Berahino had the ball in the net from close range in the eighth minute, when Luke Garbutt’s centre was struck goalwards by Alex Pritchard.
A Belarusian defender blocked the Spurs man’s effort, but Berahino was flagged offside just as he poked home and the goal was chalked off.
The West Bromwich Albion striker then brought a save out of keeper Uladzislau Vasiliuchak, driving a low shot at goal after Pritchard had played him through but despite dominating possession and territory, England had failed to really test their guests.
Chelsea youngster Ruben Loftus-Cheek was introduced at the break for his U21s debut in place of Will Hughes, as was Calum Chambers, who took the central defensive berth left by John Stones after a first half in which his every touch was applauded by his hometown crowd.
But it was Belarus who came closest in the early stages of the second half, when Aliaksandr Yanchanka flashed a dipping shot just wide of the far post.
The Oakwell crowd were brought back to their feet just short of the hour mark when Southgate introduced both Harry Kane and Danny Ings to the attack in a bid to break the deadlock.
And Ings almost made an instant impact, setting up Garbutt with a neat cut-back from the left only for the Everton defender to see his slide-rule shot tipped wide by Vasiliuchak.
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